


three count then exhale

by criesinauthor (wrotemyowndeliverance)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Getting Together, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, M/M, Meet-Cute, Mutual Pining, Ozai (Avatar) Is In Jail, Rival Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:48:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24802582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrotemyowndeliverance/pseuds/criesinauthor
Summary: Katara and Zuko work as piercers at rival tattoo shops and Sokka gets caught in the crossfire.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), past Sokka/Yue (Avatar) - Relationship
Comments: 17
Kudos: 139





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tags and tagline are pretty self explanatory, it's 3am I am just desperate to post my work. Inspired by this tumblr post https://limit-list.tumblr.com/post/620512614327386114/concept-okay-okay-look-but-i-wanna-see-a-modern

Sokka didn't really get Katara. 

Well, scratch that, he got Katara. He just didn't get the things she did. 

She's been his sister for as long as he can remember and the entire time she was this bright, shiny kid. She was witty and funny and well liked. Even after their mom passed, everybody said their father Hakoda was blessed to have such a helpful child. School was her domain. She was in gifted programs and art clubs and debate teams, this and that and all the others. She never had a lot of friends, but a few here and there. That didn't matter though, not in the "big picture" anyways. 

Sokka wasn't dumb. He didn't feel dumb. He liked design, he had an eye for detail, he had a lot about himself that he liked. He had a solid friend group in high school, he didn't do much other than loiter in the STEM lab four days a week, but he was always doing something there. It just wasn't shiny, he wasn't the trophy kid. And he was  _ glad _ he wasn't. It was enough pressure being the man of the house when their dad was deployed, making sure he wasn’t putting any kind of undue burdens onto Katara and Gran Gran, always taking maybe a little too much responsibility. Pulling that off and gifted kid, who  _ didn't _ shave his own head and  _ wasn’t _ infamous for getting two fish hooks stuck in his thumb, it would've been too much. 

He was satisfied doing what he wanted, when he wanted, and coasting on the bare minimum. He was doing things that mattered, and people knew it, even if it wasn’t hung up on the mantle. But his was a life where even getting into law school wasn't comparable to Katara's senior year nursing program. She was going to cure cancer or something. He was going to condemn buildings and close parks for a living. 

Or at least it  _ wasn't _ comparable until she dropped out her first semester of pre-med for a  _ piercing apprenticeship.  _

It didn't change who she was, especially not to Sokka, but suddenly a lot more fingers were being pointed at him in terms of being the " _ responsible, well adjusted, career oriented, model sibling _ .” Comments about how  _ unbecoming _ an undercut was for someone going into his field, how he shouldn't smile so big in pictures or wear novelty socks to a wedding stopped and gave way into knowing looks about  _ "poor misguided Katara."  _

He couldn't help but wonder _ "is this how people spoke to her about me our entire lives?"  _ If so he couldn't blame her for quitting on  _ them _ , not a lot anyways, it wasn't exactly great to feel like everyone saw the person you spend over half of your life with get treated like a burnout for no real reason. 

But, he could blame her for setting  _ him _ up to coast their whole lives then  _ slam dunking it into the trash  _ just to work at Flying Bison Tattoos. Not like the social contract of their family was hinged on the basis of Sokka providing social and financial security and Katara  _ being Katara. _

_ That  _ was what got him pissed off about the arrangement. But she was still his sister, and he still was the only one with a license, so he picked her up from work at the end of the day in the hand-me-down Buick from Gran Gran, shot her a text , and waited. Eventually, Katara started ignoring his texts for upwards of forty five minutes, so he started coming inside to get her, Then he started hanging around when he came to pick her up. As it turns out, the piercing people are  _ cool-ish _ . 

Sokka had ink, some people would have said too much of it, so it wasn't that he thought they were some _tattooed_ _ruffians_ **corrupting** his _precious, innocent_ baby sister. No, he had just never really gotten a feel for the professional scene. He dated a girl who knew traditional tattooing and, way before Katara started working for Flying Bison, every stitch of ink on his body was done with her loving hand, soothed by her mouth, worn with pride, despite the stern talking to he got from Gran Gran about what _those people would think_ about teenage grandson having _tattoos._

By the time Katara was an apprentice, he'd almost convinced himself he was over it all. The girl’s father had someone waiting for her back home or  _ something  _ similarly archaic, and cruel, and hurtful. They  _ couldn't _ be together, not like that. Not  _ anymore _ . Like the moon and the ocean, they would always be apart, but one would still pull so strongly on the other. 

Needless to say, he was glad most of her work was on his back. 

It took less than a week of picking up Katara for the urging of her friend (who,  _ sidenote _ , happened to be blind. Of course Sokka didn't find out until her recommendation was  _ on his body _ ) to compel him to add something that wasn't hers to his collection of ink. It was just some character, this kid Aang designed, He was apparently the main artist, made up a flash sheet full of Appa— the titular flying bison, named after some pet he had or something, so it was cheap. He sat for less than an hour and let the kid  _ (not the blind one, but Aang) _ tattoo a little cow-manatee-horned-dude looking thing on his left bicep. He liked it more than he thought he would, especially since flexing it and saying it was dancing was more than enough to make Suki the Pretty Receptionist and Katara laugh. 

They were a pleasant group of people, when they weren't letting the blind, infant daughter of the florist next store pick out tattoos. They were  _ pleasant _ . 

_ Despite _ having a blood feud (or ink feud? maybe?) with Two Dragons: Tattoos and Piercings, a family run joint a couple blocks downtown from them that's been there for  _ years  _ and is run by an absolute powerhouse of an old tattooing master. Like _ “they could have their own brand of needles and a show by now, but he simply doesn’t want it”  _ levels of notoriety.

It was a largely unspoken feud, but a feud nonetheless. They were the old, and Flying Bison was the new, and the new meant modern art style, technique, diversity, and a practically smothering amount of  _ safe space energy _ in the shop, which in some regards was more appealing than the traditional reputation that Two Dragons had. In some ways it wasn't, and by the time Katara started there, which one would continue to prosper was still up in the air. 

In hindsight, he should’ve known something was up when he came in one day and no one hurled profanities at him or ignored him in favor of their oh so important sketching or planning or cleaning or whatever. In fact they were all waiting for him in the lobby like an episode of intervention.

“Hi, Sokka,” Suki said from her usual spot at the front desk, starting a chain of overlapping greetings from everyone but Toph, who had a set of earbuds on that felt almost like an intentional fail safe.

“Oh, hey guys. If you’re done for the day, can I just take Katara and-”

“We need a favor.” His sister said bluntly, but with a sickeningly sweet look on her face that he hasn’t been able to resist since he was five.

“Listen, if you don’t want to do it, it’s fine, you’re our friend and it’s your body and we want you to be comfortable.” Aang said.

“As long as I am not becoming a drug mule, I’m good.” Sokka said. ”Just tell me what’s up.”

“We need you to infiltrate Two Dragons as a customer and tell us everything about them and their work.” Katara said.

“Why? Can’t you just go on their website? What’s wrong with that?” Sokka could barely believe the suggestion.

“They don’t own Two Dragons the name, there’s like thirty other shops with way stronger social media presence than theirs.” Suki answered. “In fact, I’m pretty sure they don’t even use social, they’re a household name, basically.”

“Why can’t one of you do it?” He posited.

“They know who we are, Sokka.” Suki said. “Look, Kyoshi said if you hate what you get, we can pay you back, but this information is super important.”

Kyoshi was the woman who owned their building and ran a shop out of it like a billion years ago. Sokka didn't know  _ much _ about that part of their history other than the fact that she had some  _ shit _ to say about Two Dragons, and he was he was the only one not immediately recognizable as a competitive employee to go in there and sacrifice the sacred real estate of his  **_SKIN_ ** to help them get a feel for how fucked they were when it came to the future of their business. And by extension, the future of his sister's apprenticeship, the one in which she  _ threw everything away _ . 

So, what choice did he have but to make an appointment?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *inhales* its about the exposition 
> 
> also I love our king zuko but in this au he doesn't have the scar bc i sent ozai to prison before he could inflict anymore pain! we love to see it.

_ If you don't like a part of your body, pierce it.  _

That was Zuko's personal motto. It really summed up what he really loved about his job. The emotions people felt before, during, and after getting pierced. Tattooing took time, and effort, and communication, but piercing was near instantaneously cathartic for his clients. 

And he knew it's impact well. 

Growing up he was often praised for looking just like his father, the spitting image, _ a little Ozai,  _ which made him uncomfortable as a child, and downright disgusted as he got older. Zuko's father wasn't a nice man, you could barely even call him a man. He was a tyrant in their own home, stoic at his best and violent at his worst. To top it all off, he was a master manipulator and taught every trick he knew to Zuko's sister Azula, breaking her into  _ another _ clone, just one who thought like him instead of mirroring everything he hated. 

They lived like this for years, it got so bad at one point, it drove their mother away, in the dead of night, with just a kiss goodbye to send her off. Ozai had made quick work of severing Azula's ties with their mother long before she ever really went away, but Zuko hadn't been so fortunate. His mother's disappearance was one of the most painful moments of his life, and he knew it was all his father's fault. He could barely look at himself by the end of the year, fearing he'd wake up one day and just see him staring back. 

It was an act of God when Ozai was arrested for tax evasion three years later. 

Then Zuko and Azula became the wards of his uncle Iroh. Growing up, Azula primarily thought he was just some creepy old man who ran a tattoo shop, despite her imminent fascination with the act of enduring the sharp, cold pain of a needle and getting art out of it. But, Zuko was always fascinated by the ink on his arms and shoulders, even before he knew how they'd gotten there. Depictions of great warriors, swords, proverbs, significant dates, some cultural pieces from old masters here, some pinups of old girlfriends there. He bore the entire story of his life on his  _ skin _ . He could sit for hours and listen to his uncle's stories about all his interesting clients and his time learning the craft and traveling, getting a piece from great masters all across the world. 

Another event that Zuko loved about staying in Iroh's home was pouring over old pictures of his late cousin Lu Ten with him. He only knew him for the last ten years of his life. Zuko was most familiar with the young man from his childhood, showing up to family gatherings in his navy uniform, incredibly polite, and put together, but Iroh's albums showed a very side of him. A side Zuko was either too young to remember or never even saw, one he barely recognized as Lu Ten. 

Iroh's book held pages of polaroids and photos featuring him with his long black hair down and framing his face, metal rings coming from his lips, nose, and eyebrows, even a few photos showcasing back piece of a red dragon, and in every single one he wore a smile wider than he ever had when visiting the family home.  That was probably the first time he realized the real power of a piercing. The power to change your face, your mood, to chameleon into a person you wanted to be. It was then that Zuko realized he wanted nothing more than to be that  _ happy _ . 

He asked to get his septum done for his 14th birthday, Iroh had it done for him that week. Zuko was laid down on the reclining chair in Iroh's shop. Azula tried to convince him he was bleeding all over before the needle even made contact, and when it did, Zuko teared up, to more teasing from Azula, until just as suddenly it was over. He ogled the captive ball ring in his reflection. His nose ached with every movement, and he realized it moved  _ way _ more often than he thought, but the most remarkable thing about the day was the fact that he could face himself, no problem. Even with his 12 year old sister moo-ing in his ear for the rest of the day, Zuko felt happy. 

This started a life long trend. On his fifteenth he wanted his lip done with a labret, then his eyebrow, then his upper lip through the Cupid's Bow _ (which had proven such an effective accessory that Azula wanted it done for her 15th birthday the next month), _ then his other eyebrow, his left nostril, his cheeks, his first eyebrow again, all amounting to his latest: the bridge of nose. 

Zuko never felt more himself in his entire life. 

Between his cheek piercing and his bridge, he'd fully completed his first official leg of tattooing apprenticeship  _ (as if he hadn't been studying his uncle's work in the shop since he was thirteen),  _ and just completed one for piercing. He was finally a full  _ professional _ , on paper at least. Though he'd shown such remarkable talent and care for his work and the people involved, Iroh had considered him such long before he reached the “one year mark” in either discipline. 

But no amount of practice could've prepared him for what his first  _ professional _ piercing appointment was. 

"Zuzu" Azula called over from the front desk, making Iroh's old friend Jeong Jeong begin to laugh sufficiently as Iroh took a break from touching up the pinup on his leg to smile fondly at Zuko, as he moved away from his preferred area for  _ observation _ to Azula's receptionary domain. 

"You'd better not leave early tomorrow, I just booked you a five o'clock for tomorrow. Some kid named  _ Sokka _ wants a piercing."

"Could you seriously not get him in any earlier?"

"You say it like you do anything afterwards. Ever since Mai transferred out, you just come here and go home. I'll work with your schedule if you get a life."

Zuko groaned in frustration. "I do a lot, you just never ask."

"Oh? What are you doing tomorrow at five? I can call him back right now and move it, since you'll be out. And definitely won't be smoking in the alley and crying to MCR." Azula said, holding her finger above the call back button on their archaic landline. 

"I'm free tomorrow." He said through clenched teeth. 

"So what's the problem?"

He spoke something under his breath. 

"What was that, Zuzu?"

"Nothing" He spat out and then walked away. 

-

The next day came and went faster than usual. Iroh let him do a couple touch ups on his friends with ancient skin and good senses of humor, all of whom firmly believed he was growing into a very handsome young man, and was going to be _ quite the lady killer _ one day. He went out for a smoke break and came in to find Azula had turned over her shift in reception to her friend Ty Lee.

He was glad it was so close to his next appointment by then, Iroh didn't book any of his friends in for the the next few hours since he knew Zuko would be nervous. He was glad, not only for his client but, because he didn't think he'd be able to take it if Iroh's friends started making comments about him and Ty Lee, as if they weren’t queerer than a couple of three dollar bills.

He'd just started sanitizing and tidying the area around the reclined chair, his chair from now on, when an old iron bell on the door clanged and he was greeted by the indirect, friendly sound on Iroh's customer service voice. 

"Welcome, stranger!" 

The sound of Ty Lee trying desperately to flip through Azula's schedule book underscored the small talk Iroh and  _ some kid,  _ as Azula put it, were having. Despite his sister’s immaculate handwriting, her schedules made no sense to people who weren't her, though Ty Lee always managed through the struggle. In about three minutes she chimes in. "Sokka for five?"

"Yeah." Sokka replied. "I know I'm kind of early, I was just in the area and figured I might as well come."

"You're very lucky." Iroh said. "You'll be working with my nephew, he's a very talented boy, but he just started working professionally today."

"Is this just a nice way of saying I'm a human guinea pig?"

Zuko and Iroh both laughed at that, but Iroh wasn't creeping on their conversation in the back of the parlor. "Oh, no. He's been working here for free for the last eight years, he just didn't think he was worth the cash until two years ago." 

This time Zuko was on the outside of the joke, quietly seething that it was a much more  _ complicated _ decision than that. In his eyes at least. 

"He shouldn't be busy right now. He's always prepared early." Zuko heard the sound of Iroh clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder and led him to the back where Zuko was standing stiff next to his chair at the sight of his  _ young, attractive, buff _ client. 

"Hello, Zuko. I'm Zuko. You aren't Zu—Hi. I'm supposed to be stabbing you today." He extended his hand in a handshake and couldn't help but notice the dry heat of Sokka's.  _ (Bigger than mine, he noted) _

He looked up at the boy, still laughing from his comment, blue eyes squinted into almost nothing as he laughed with his whole torso and pulled back his hand. "Hi, Zuko. I'm Sokka, you're gonna stab me today."

Sokka might not have noticed the flush on his face and ears, nor how he was standing straighter than he ever did, but Iroh definitely did, and was poorly mouthing encouragement and gesturing from behind Sokka, until he turned around to see what exactly Zuko was glaring at. 

"I'll leave you to it," Iroh said with an exaggerated wink to Zuko before leaving the room. 

"You can, uh, sit down here." Zuko gestured to his chair. "Just make yourself comfortable. I have to go wash my hands. In the meantime that cup is filled with salt water and you have to rise for thirty seconds. You can do sixty if you want, but all we need is thirty. But, you can pick. It's your body. Bye."

"Okay." Sokka smiled at him, so sweetly and Zuko felt something in his stomach twist in the best way possible. 

He washed his hands, splashed some water in his face and tried to prepare himself for the reality of invading his personal space and staring at those perfect white teeth and those soft looking lips for the next few minutes before he was just _gone,_ _forever_ because Zuko's too big of a coward to make the first move. 

Mai initiated their relationship and every time they got back together, Song was barely more than a really nice client, but Iroh seemed to mourn the fact that they didn't go anywhere, and Jin was just a plant from Iroh anyways. It worked, him and Jin, were solid for a whole two weeks before he found out she was _ Bumi's niece.  _

Then Mai moved away and suddenly his life was a dead zone. In a major way. 

He doubted this kid was anything but serendipity, but the whole point of that is that they won't see each other again, isn't it?

He came back to find Sokka was still gargling, while trying to sing a botched rendition of  _ Pirates of Penzance _ , before Zuko's snickering caused a bit of a chain reaction in the sense that Sokka was now coughing up the solution into the sink with his own strained laughter. 

"Sorry, are you okay?" Zuko said, offering a paper towel for the outside of his mouth. 

Sokka gave him a fond laugh and took the towel. "I am now, thanks." He began to dry himself off and moved, going behind Zuko and placing one hand on his waist, to get into the chair. 

He tried not to go completely rigor mortis at his touch. "Is this your first time? Getting pierced I mean."

"Nah, I've got a Prince Albert,” He sat down in the chair and Zuko tried not to choke on his own spit. “But I figure it's time to start above the belt. Y'know?"

Zuko spoke as he put on a pair of black, silicone gloves and pulled a cotton swab and some topical numbing from the counter, able to address the situation professionally now that he wasn’t focused on his client so much. "That's cool. I've been considering getting one myself but—"

"I was kidding! Kidding this is my first. I'm kind of a dumbass, of course you're not gonna think dick piercing's funny."

Zuko laughed. "I mean, it kind of is. I'm above a lot of things but the inherent humor of dick piercing isn't one of them."

"Good to know. So how's this gonna work?"

"First of all, stop talking. At least stop talking with your tongue in your mouth. I have to apply topical anesthesia."

"Ooh" Sokka said with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. "Fancy"

Zuko made quick work of drying it off with a fresh paper towel, then marking it with a marker and handing him a mirror to check it out in. "Is that where you want it?"

"Wow" he said, still gawking at how well centered his first mark was, trying to envision what it would look like with an actual piece there. "Despite the marker tasting bad, this is perfect."

Zuko felt his ears get hot again. "It's no big deal. Thanks." He took back the mirror and began applying the numbing with the swab. "Okay just don't wet your tongue and you can put it back for now."

Sokka complied almost immediately. "Let me guess, that's just a warm up for how long it'll be out later?"

"If you don't move it'll be over before you know it."

"That's what they said about high school too, didn't work."

Zuko laughed again. "Are you a comedian or something?"

"Selectively. Specifically to people who like me, I’m not funny at all if you haven’t made your mind up about that yet."

"You think I like you? How do you know I don't just want a big tip?" Zuko said nonchalantly as he sterilized the clamp. 

"Your uncle up front already told me how long you did this shit just out of love for the job, I have doubts you'd make an exception just for little ol' me." He batted his eyelashes exaggeratedly. 

"Yeah, not unless I liked you or something." Zuko mumbled. "Put your tongue out again.” Sokka complied and Zuko carefully secured the clamp so the mark he made was staring right down the barrel of the hole. "That's the most painful part."

"You think so?" He squeaked out, blinking away a tear and trying not to disturb Zuko's handiwork. 

Zuko quickly added one more dot on the bottom of his tongue before replacing it to its normal position and readying the needle. He knew that for anyone else he'd just count down from three and ask them to exhale, but something about standing over his client, looking into his deep blue eyes that made him say "I need you to breathe with me, okay?"

Sokka nodded curtly. 

"In"

He complied. 

"Out"

He did it again. 

_ "In" _

And again. 

_ "Out." _

And again.

_ "In" _

Sokka trained his eyes on Zuko’s golden ones, despite them being single mindedly focused on the task of piercing his tongue. On the last, unspoken  _ out _ , Zuko had successfully pierced his tongue, now making quick work of putting the barbell jewelry in, getting the other ball on it, and unclamping him. "Okay we're done."

"We are?" Sokka took his tongue back into his and rolled the ball across his hard palate, getting used to the sensation. "It feels kinda big, is it?”

"It is. You can downsize when it's healed, but for now it'll be swelling soon.” Zuko cleared his throat then went into his practiced spiel. “Rinse with salt water or an antiseptic mouthwash ideally three times a day, but once in the morning and once at night won't kill you." He moved away from the chair to dispose of his gloves and other waste. "No kissing or oral sex until it's healed. No drinking or smoking, either."

"There go all my first date ideas."

"I think she'll understand." Zuko deadpanned. 

Sokka laughed. "I doubt it, I don't even know when he gets off and I’m already asking about a date."

Zuko let the lid of the trashcan crash down when he stepped towards him. "I didn't fuck it up, you can stop pretending to flirt with me." 

"You think I'm pretending? “ He smirked and ran the new, still numb piercing over his teeth. “That's  _ cute _ ."

Zuko was now flushed enough that he knew Sokka absolutely noticed it. "You can pay up front."

Sokka stood up and took out his phone. "Do you have Venmo? For your tip." 

"Ty Lee can give it to you. If you want to change the jewelry before it's healed, come back and I'll do it. Keep a close eye on it and go to a doctor if it smells weird or you get discharge, but if you followed my instructions and rinsed it every day you should be fine. The mouth heals pretty fast."

"Cool, cool. I'll see you around, maybe?"

"Maybe. Bye."

"Bye" He smiled and waved at Zuko before leaving and the minute he'd gone up front, he let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. 

The big iron bell clanged after a couple minutes and Zuko went up front to the knowing grins of his uncle and Ty Lee when his phone buzzed with a notification that he made sure not to check with them around. 

“So, he’s  _ cute _ .” Ty Lee said.

“ _ Stop _ ” Zuko said.

“What a nice young man.” Iroh said. “And he’s single! What a shame.”

“I said stop.” He repeated, getting more annoyed. 

“What? He’s right, it is pretty sad.” Ty Lee pouted before perking up like she just invented the light bulb. “You should do something about it, Zuko!”

"Please shut up! I am going on break." He stormed out before either of them could react and checked his phone in the alley next to the store. 

_ Venmo, SokkaBrah, $45 "for stabbing my tongue <3" with a phone number in the notes. _


	3. Chapter 3

Sokka came barging into Flying Bison basically as soon as his flirtation with the enemy was over with. Well, it wasn’t supposed to be any kind of seduction or illicit activity. He added that part upon figuring out the establishment wasn’t overwhelmed with gross old dudes. Sometimes, in life, you get a charming emo boy who’s humble and way overqualified to stab your tongue when you expect rejected Seals and Croft impersonators, and that’s  _ okay. _ They didn’t need to know that part though. What was important was that Sokka made it in and out alive with something to say about the whole experience. 

“Check it!” He said, displaying his, now sore, tongue piercing to the front of the house crowd, which at the moment was the florists' little viper, Toph and Suki, welcoming the reprieve from making the Google calendar. 

Suki looked up from planning the google calendar to lean over the counter and see his new piercing. “Oh, that’s sick.”

“I know right.” Sokka preened under her compliment. 

“You sound a little dumber than usual, so I guess that’s a pretty good indicator of their talent for this.” Toph, the one responsible for his blind bag tattooing experience, chimed in from the couch.

“I have an inch long metal rod through my tongue, it’s gonna take some getting used to!” 

“Really? Lemme see” She started grabbing towards the direction of his voice

Sokka would’ve jumped away from her motions if she’d been at all accurate. “I don’t know where those things have been!”

Toph feigned disgust. “Like I know where your tongue has been.” 

“Yeah, so, this is not for you, Maybe next time your cells turn over.”

Toph stuck her tongue out at him.

Katara and Aang came down the short staircase into the back of the store, his sister rushing ahead to talk to him. “How was it? Was he good? Was he very professional? Was he better than me?”

“I mean, he was super quick about it and he wore gloves the whole time. I dunno how to tell if this is good or not” He stuck out his tongue. “I like it, but I can’t tell if it’s professional, y’know?”

Katara looked at the piercing with a critical eye. “It’s fine, I guess. That guy probably has years of experience over me, anyways.”

“Yeah, he’s like my age.” Sokka replied.

Katara’s face dropped into a scowl, but to Sokka she still looked like a pissed off eight year old. “He is?! Suki, I thought you said the one market they haven’t tapped was zillennials”

“Don’t blame her!” Sokka exclaimed. “I’m pretty sure today was his first day as an official staff member.” 

“Does he do art?” Aang asked. “We could use an extra set of hands around here.”

“I keep asking you to teach me and you just dodge the question, twinkle toes.” Toph said from her seat. 

Aang giggled. “As soon as someone comes in asking for braille, I’ll give them your card.”

“You better. I definitely know more about this business than  _ he _ does.” Toph said nodding towards him.

“ _Hey_ , I’ll have you know I'm taking a business elective.” Sokka exclaimed.

Katara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Sokka, your C in Intro to E-Commerce is going to be  _ so _ helpful right now,”

“Not the point. He’s an artist and he doesn’t think I’m connected to here, I can just go back and talk to him whenever. I might’ve even managed to get his number.”

Suki held out her hand for a high-five which Sokka immediately returned. 

“I’m happy for you, Sokka.” Aang said, “It’s just we really need to figure out-”

“What Aang is trying to say is that you did a great job! You need to play every nasty little trick in the book to get that dragon bastard to defect to here, or ruin him trying.”

“ _Katara!_ ” Aang exclaimed.

“ _What?_ I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. How good they are puts our asses on the line.”

“Sugar queen’s right.” Toph said. “If they have some pretty young thing at their granddad’s shop, what’s going to make them want to come here? Where they don’t have discounts? Or locker room talk?”

“I think you provide a tasteful spattering of locker room talk, Toph.” Suki added.

“Thanks, snookums.” She replied. “But the fact of the matter is, one of us will go down. Spoiler alert: it will be us.”

Sokka sighed. “Fine, I’ll go back next week. What do you guys want me to do to my actual human body forever next time? Get me a tramp-stamp that says  _ enemy of the state?” _

“I’d like to see that.” Toph said, laughing.

“Sokka should let him freestyle!” Aang said. ”That’ll really prove how good he is.”

“I will not let him do that shit until I trust him, I’m not an idiot.” Sokka said, “I’ll keep him on the hook, but I’m not doing anything evil or illegal. I’ll go in next week and get him to change my jewelry and try to get him to hang out.”

“Is there anything he said he likes? I’ve been collecting some pieces with novelty balls, it might help speed things along.” Katara said.

“Just give me anything, I have enough balls.”

“Sokka.” She said. “Please never say that to me again.”

\- 

The week went by faster than he thought it would. 

_ Way faster. _

He decided to make the appointment in person, figuring it’d be easier and give him some more time to display interest. As he circled the block for a spot, he felt butterflies in his stomach. Grown ass man looking for a parking spot had  _ butterflies _ . He could barely believe himself, it’s not like Zuko liked him. He didn’t even text him yet, to feel like this a week later was just  _ pathetic _ . He wouldn’t be shocked if his  _ target _ had him in and out as fast as possible, or worse yet, pawned him off on Iroh or some other shop hand just so he didn’t have to deal with him. 

Never one to give up without a fight, he got over it and pulled into a spot. That morning he’d observed Katara’s  _ cringe _ collection of  _ fail _ tongue jewelry, there was one shaped like a pill, one with a ying yang symbol  _ (the mere idea of wearing it made his chest feel so heavy it dragged him five years into the past, so needless to say, it was a no) _ , a bunch of innocuous neon numbers, some pride ones, some weed ones, some weed pride ones, until finally they got to the real garbage where Sokka found the piece so heinous he might be brought to tears.

He knew he’d found the one.

It was beautiful. Surgical steel base. Lavender glitter pendant. Big white writing that said “male slut” in all capital letters. It was fucking  _ hilarious _ . 

Of course by the time he got to the door, he was regretting it thoroughly, the plastic bag with the loose piece sitting in his pocket weighed him down like a metric ton of  _ stupid _ . But, like he said, no giving up now. He walked through the door and the old iron bell tolling over his head sounded like the loudest thing on earth. 

Ty something or other wasn’t at the desk today, it was some girl who was Katara’s age trying desperately to make anyone who saw her think otherwise by dressing like a Bratz doll. She had the same dark hair and eyes as Zuko, but something about seeing those features on someone so _aloof_ and, when she took one look at Sokka, _annoyed_ was a bit uncanny. “Hi, welcome to Two Dragons. How can I help you?”

“Uh, is Zuko busy right now? I want to get my jewelry changed.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes then got up and walked into the back of the shop. He heard a muffled argument, but, what sounded like, Zuko’s voice was the only one arguing. When she returned she was smiling. “He’ll be out in a second. Take a seat.”

He walked over to a long leather couch that looked almost like a restaurant booth and looked around the waiting area before spotting a portfolio book, which he grabbed and sat down with. It didn’t exactly feel  _ wrong _ to go through it and snap a few photos. It wasn’t like he’d get to see it any other time. And he might get a tattoo then, one day.  ~~_ If Zuko gave him one _ ~~ ~~.~~ He should be informed. Who he shared the information with didn’t matter. Why was he suddenly so hung up about it? This is for  _ Katara _ and her  _ friends _ . Not some cute, pierced up  _ freak _ , with soft hands, and the ability to  _ use them to crush his baby sister’s entire career. _

He opened the book and began to discreetly snap photos. 

Nothing was credited, so he didn’t really know which ones were Zuko’s and which ones were his uncle’s, but they were mostly what you could expect from a place run by a guy like Iroh. Expertly done vintage pieces, some impressive black and white realism, good lettering but nothing to write home about, some detailed dragons with sharp line art in a variety of colors. Some of them were over beautiful watercolor-like backgrounds, some were in white ink, some were just plain, but they all had a distinct uniqueness in the sense that these were  _ their _ dragons With fierce, lionlike faces and big scales and  _ personality _ . It was a strong brand that made him stare at his own sleeve clad bicep and worry for Aang’s cute little  _ Appas _ . 

He’d gotten enough pics and put his phone away to begin browsing in earnest. Just in time, too, because afterwards a pale hand bearing a black surgical glove was pointing down at a photo.

“That one was my first tattoo.” Sokka looked up from the photo of two black, stylized, bird’s wings set ablaze across someone’s shoulder blades and into Zuko’s face. “Well I didn’t do it. I just designed it. It took forever to finish. My uncle did it. He’s the real artist.”

Sokka looked over the piece again, taking in the flame composition, the delicate details on the feathers, and, he noticed solely on his second look, wax dripping at the bases of the feathers. It was a Greek mythology tattoo, _Icarus's wings,_ and if it was possible for Sokka to think him any more attractive than he already did, it happened on that second look.“If you designed this, I’d _have_ to say you’re just as artistic as he is.”

“Thank you. But, now that I do it, I have to disagree. My stupid mock up was no where near the skill of what he did.”

Sokka got up and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Agree to disagree.”

Zuko evaded eye contact, but still smiled slightly. “Okay. Come in back. I just cleaned up.”

He began walking towards the back of the store, breaking contact with Sokka’s hand in such a way that made the air of the shop feel freezing on his exposed palm. He followed him back to the room where this infatuation and business-powerplay-whatever began and picked up a cup, before Zuko practically blew up at him. 

“That’s isopropyl alcohol!”

Sokka silently set the cup down while considering the crisis he just avoided. “Knew that smelled off. Okay.”

“Salt water is the cup near the sink.”

Sokka moved behind him, this time playing  _ look mom, no hands _ when he passed behind him. He began gargling again, this time to _You Give Love a Bad Name._

Zuko smirked. “You’re a really talented gargle singer.”

Sokka spat into the sink then shot him a grin. “Thanks, I’m thinking about going professional.”

They stood in silence for what Sokka thought was a definitely  _ unproductive _ amount of time before Zuko said something.

“I’m, uh, sorry I didn’t call you. It was really nice of you to tip that much. I’m not gonna charge you for changing your jewelry.”

“No problem. You don’t have to do that.”

Zuko smiled at him _again_ and this time  _ God,  _ Sokka could have sworn his heart skipped a beat. “It is no problem. I want to.”

“That reminds me, I should probably give you this. To sterilize it and stuff.” He dug through his pocket and handed Zuko the baggie with the final nail in the coffin.  _ Here lie Sokka’s chances of convincing him he wasn’t a complete and utter idiot- _

Zuko started laughing. For real, not awkward cloying laughter. Real, full bodied,  _ beautiful _ ,  _ melodic _ ,  _ perfect _ ,  **_Zuko_ ** laughter. “I _love_ these. Oh my god,  _ male slut?  _ That’s priceless. I feel like I should be paying you for letting me see this.”

Sokka laughed once in response, scratching the back of his head. “I mean, it is part of the job description” 

“Sit down, I’ll stick it in”

“Oh, if that’s what we’re doing now, I want the cash upfront.”

“Alright, Miss Roberts.” He said, dumping the piece into the cup of alcohol then ejecting it onto a paper towel to dry. Sokka moved behind him again, still hesitant to put his hands anywhere near his torso. He got himself situated on the chair and watched Zuko dump the shallow Dixie cup into the trash. “Tongue, please.”

“Yessir” He stuck his tongue out and let Zuko inspect it.

“It’s healing really well. I guess you took my advice?”

Sokka nodded.

“I don’t think it’ll be rejected if we change it now.” He scoffed, but it was utterly free of malice. He went on to speak, low and slightly graveled, as he concentrated on Sokka’s piercing. “If it is, I'll let you tattoo male slut on my tongue.” 

“Thanks” He said, his tongue still on display, and glad it was so Zuko wouldn’t be focused on the  _ heat _ rising in his cheeks at the other’s voice.

“It’s only fair.” He started unscrewing the ball and slid the bar out, then replaced it with the novelty piece and handed him a mirror. “All set, male slut.”

He looked at the new piece in the mirror. “Thanks. I can’t wait to show my parents!” He thought it was even dumber than it looked in his hand, but something about knowing the piercer found it so funny made him all _ warm and fuzzy inside. _

“Make sure they know I’m responsible.” He said as he smirked at him  _ again, _ like it  _ wasn’t _ one of the hottest things Sokka ever laid eyes on, and he discarded his gloves into the trash. “I, uh. I’m sorry I didn’t text you. It wasn’t personal I just...I’m not a people person.”

“That’s fine. If you just give me a drop call I’ll text you.” Sokka said, feeling more relieved than he thought he would.

“Oh. Okay.” He took out his phone and quickly made up a contact with his number and called it.

“I was worried, I’m not gonna lie.” He laughed, light and deeply expletive. “You’re a cool person, Zuko.”

He saw the glow on Zuko’s face and felt his stomach seizing again in response. “Thanks. You’re a fun guy.”

“Thanks yourself.” Sokka spat out before he could really even process how dumb he sounded. He was immediately mortified by himself, but recovery came soon after in the form of Zuko’s laughter. 

“You first.” He said, his smile brighter than the sun and just as tear jerking to look at.

“Um. I have to go to a thing soon.” He said standing up and beginning to angle out of the chair. “Male sluts only event, don’t ask. So, I gotta dip. But, I have your number now, I’ll text you tonight. Maybe we can hang out or something some time. Bye.” He waved, slowly backing out of the room until Zuko waved back, then began speeding out of the store, much to the desk girl’s chagrin.

_ Heh,  _ he thought,  _ sure Zuko will have fun with that one. _

_ Bison - 1, Dragon - 0. _


End file.
